Former defence minister accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing”
Former Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon accused the Israeli army of “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip on November 30th, sparking an outcry in the country, according to the Arab News via AFP.
“The road we are being led down is conquest, annexation and ethnic cleansing,” Yaalon said in an interview on the private DemocratTV channel.
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Pressed on his use of the term “ethnic cleansing,” he said “what is happening there? There is no more Beit Lahia, no more Beit Hanoun, the army intervenes in Jabalia and in reality the land is being cleared of Arabs.”
Yaalon, 74, was the head of the IDF between 2002 and 2005, just before Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
He served as defence minister and vice PM before resigning in 2016 over disagreements with PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
There was outrage within Israel at his comments.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said it was a “shame” for Israel to “have had such a figure as army chief and defence minister.”
The ruling Likud party to which Yaalon once belonged attacked his “empty and dishonest remarks,” calling them “a gift to the ICC and to the camp of Israel’s enemies.”
READ: Israeli foreign minister says ICC has “lost all legitimacy”
The statement was a reference to the International Criminal Court following the issuing of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
A UN special committee pointed earlier this month to “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians.”
The committee said Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza was “consistent with the characteristics of genocide,” in the first use of the word by the UN in the context of the current war in Gaza. Israel rejected the UN assessment as “anti-Israel fabrications.”
AFP, The Guardian
